Made of Blondes
by Shusuika
Summary: A story about Cid being Cloud's biological father. Takes place after Advent Children
1. Chapter 1

**Title:** Made of Blondes

**Rating:** M for strong language

**Couples:** There will be none, except the ones that "exist" in the original story. Story revolves around Cid Highwind and Cloud Strife.

**Summary: **Takes place after Final Fantasy VII Advent Children. During a meeting between AVALANCHE and WRO, Reeve and Vincent discover something shocking that will change Cid's and Cloud's life forever. But what is it?

**A/N:**Yeah...it seems I'm not the only one considering the option of Cid being Cloud's father XD  
You might find this slightly weird.  
For the record, Cid is 40 something, to make the age different between him and Cloud less...disturbing.  
Enjoy. Or not

**CHAPTER 1**

A brunette surveyed the room he just entered, welcoming the loud cheering noises of his companions. Reeve was happy to see everyone together.

It was rare the time everyone would have the time to gather around under the same roof. The lack of space was one of the main reasons of why they didn't organize a reunion. Cid's house was just too small and the little existing space was stacked with machine parts and pieces. Cloud, Tifa and Barret basically lived in the same place, which wasn't that big either. Not to mention it was in Midgar, and some just found Midgar too grey and depressing for a gathering. Nanaki owned a cave that he claimed during his journey, and it wasn't suited for humans, nor had the basic infrastructures. Reeve wouldn't dare to mention the use of WRO headquarters for political reasons, or so he claimed. Yuffie's hometown was incredibly far away for everyone to reach. And Vincent's «home» was none other than the ShinRa's secret research laboratory, also known as the mansion of Nibelheim. But those were all excuses.

Someone had suggested using the mansion for their long-awaited party, and upon everyone's agreement, Vincent had no choice but to comply reluctantly. Of course, before everyone arrived, Vincent had done what most guests would do: to tidy up the place. The mansion became nothing but a ruin since the Sephiroth incident. But Vincent did what he could, using materia in his aid to get rid of the dust and small debris. When his friends arrived, they took over the large living room and stacked it with the couch, many chairs and tables they could find, setting the area like it was an outside camping fire, being the television the "fire".

Reeve smiled, his perfectly sculpted beard curving along with his facial muscles, as he stood watching for a while. The television was pressed against the wall, surrounded by the couch and a few chairs here and there. Just behind the couch was two tables set with food and drinks for anyone to use.

Everyone was busy, playing Tekken on an old Playstation console. The television was older and had no output connection for the console, but Cid managed to assemble the wires with the remains of the basement's machinery, making an extremely clumsy wire-work between the television and the gaming console.

Cloud was sitting in the center of the couch along with Yuffie, and both were tapping furiously at the buttons of the control, oblivious of what surrounded them. They were determined to win, possibly over gambled materia. Tifa was cheering by Cloud's left side, while Barret was sitting by Yuffie's right side, seemingly interested in the match as well, for he was leaning forward, almost falling off the couch. Nanaki was on the floor next to Barret, merely interested in the result of the match between his two battling friends. Reeve had taken a free chair next to Tifa, holding a beer in his hand. Vincent was sitting in a chair just next to Reeve, but he was giving no importance to the happy reunion, as usual. Cid, on the other hand, was behind the couch, leaning on one of his elbows, while the other arm was busy holding a beer bottle.

"Come on, brat, I got money on yeh!"

Cid shouted as he raised his beer in the air in a cheering motion before taking a quick sip.

"I'm trying, geezer!"

Yuffie shouted in frustration, never ceasing her button-tapping actions. Cloud, on the other hand, just stared silently at the screen in full concentration, ever so occasionally making grunt noises.

"Hahaha, yo spiky-head, win this thing, already!"

Barret laughed in full confidence, waiting for the expected winning. The whole gang had set their own bets on the players, just to make things the more interesting.

"Hm…."

Cloud hummed, as he twisted the control around just as much as Yuffie did, as if moving the control would help their character move faster. Reeve could only muse and laugh at the amateurs. The brunette was a fan of video games and he could tell easily that his two friends had never played before in their entire lives, and were merely pressing all of the buttons in hope to win, before the life bar ran out.

"Oh, Yuffie's almost dead!"

Nanaki blurted out suddenly, watching the screen with amusement.

"You're gonna make it"

Tifa squealed excitedly.

"Yes! Cloud, finish her!"

Barret threw a fist in the air, excited as well.

"Watch where yeh throw yeh fucking punches!"

Cid flinched away from the waving fist of the large black man.

"Oh, ohhhhhh!"

Tifa yelled out in surprise, bringing everyone to place their attention to the screen. Silence fell upon the group.

"YES! I WON!"

Yuffie screamed out as she jumped on her seat. Cloud just hung his head in utter defeat.

"H-how…? How did you?"

Cloud looked back up and blinked.

"Naaah, I have no idea!"

Yuffie shrugged, standing in a victorious pose.

"She pressed a combination of a special mortal attack by accident."

Reeve explained while shrugging his shoulders.

"She won by luck…"

Barret groaned, rubbing his forehead, slumping back onto his seat.

"Yesh! Way'ta go, brat!"

Cid high-fived the girl.

"Hell, yeah! Now losers, fork over the materia!"

Yuffie turned to face her defeated friend and waved her hand with a grinning face.

"And yeh money."

Cid stood next to Yuffie, waving his hand as well, waiting for the reward.

"Hold on up, yo! That was just luck! She didn't really win, yo!"

Barret protested, waving his metallic hand in the air in frustration.

"Yes, that wasn't a fair win. I had the upper hand."

Cloud argued back while lifting a finger, hoping to cancel off the bet and maybe have a rematch. He hated losing more than anyone else.

"I want a rematch."

"Noooooo waaaay. Materia, please."

Yuffie sing-songed as she spread out her fingers, awaiting impatiently for her prize.

With a sigh, Cloud reached in his pocket to pick one of his materia, handing it to the young woman.

"Damn it."

Barret cursed as he slapped the money onto Cid's hand, who grinned like a kid in Christmas time.

"Thanks, it's nice doin' business with yeh, hehe."

"Shaddup! You and me, now! I'm'a beat yo sorry ass!"

Barret shouted in frustration.

"You're on, shithead!"

Cid shouted back and took Yuffie's seat, while picking up the control. Barret followed shortly after, quickly selecting his character along with the blonde man.

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER 2**

Reeve couldn't help but smile all the time.

"You seem awfully happy…"

The brunette heard the deep voice from behind, reminding him that Vincent was still there. Reeve turned to face the dark haired man, his smile never fading.

"How can I not? It's not everyday that we get to be together and have a good time."

Vincent tilted his head slightly for a moment, before nodding.

"You have a point there, Reeve."

"I still remember the first time we were all together. It was in that horror hotel back in the Gold Saucer."

"You mean the one where you tricked us and stole from us?"

Reeve flinched at Yuffie's remark.

"Ah, hahaha, such dark times those were."

Reeve ranted nervously while crossing his arms as if to defend himself from any upcoming punch.

"That was not cool, man."

He heard Barret speak from his seat.

"I know, and I apologize once again for my actions, guys."

"Nevermind that. You already proved to us that you are to trust, long ago."

Cloud said reassuringly, shrugging his shoulders as if to show he didn't care much.

"That cheapstake is still as tricky as ever."

Cid commented, taking another sip from his beer, before returning his attention to the paused match along with Barret.

"Agreed."

Reeve turned over to the man in the red cape.

"Vincent….not you too."

Vincent merely shrugged. Reeve hung his head down in defeat. It was true that he had broken the trust of his friends, and earned it back by sacrificing one of his dolls to help the group. But even after earning that trust back, he would receive suspicious stares from one or another for a while.

"Hey, yo cheating bastard!"

A sudden outburst snapped Reeve out of his thoughts and he looked over to see Barret and Cid battling within the game.

"Can't keep up, heh?"

Cid laughed out loud as he somehow dodged Barret's attacks. Tifa, Cloud and Yuffie cheered on. Reeve, Nanaki and Vincent just watched in silent.

As the night continued on, several materia and money had been passed back and forth between winners and losers, or former winners and former losers.

By the time it hit midnight, everyone was already drunk, but none was willing to drop to the beds yet.

"You didn't…"

Yuffie giggled as she leaned on the couch, too overwhelmed with alcohol to even know what buttons she was pushing. She had insisted to have a battle with Tifa, but both women ended up talking about other things.

"Yes, I diiiiid!"

More giggled followed. Nanaki had already fallen asleep from eating too much, so he was sprawled right next to the couch, which would explain why the girls were using him as a leg stretcher.

"And…and…"

Tifa continued, leaning on Yuffie to whisper into her ear.

"And then I put cat sand in that jerk's sandwich."

"Ohhhhhh, you evil, hahahaha!"

Yuffie threw herself over the couch, kicking the air with her legs.

"That ought'a teach that bastard to never, ever, eveeer pinch my ass."

Tifa giggled, taking another sip from her almost empty bottle. Barret on the other hand, was sitting on one chair, listening to the girls gossiping.

Reeve had spent the rest of the night talking with Vincent, but the black haired man was having some trouble keeping up with the brunette's topics. Reeve was drunk as well, and in that state he was speaking of areas that apparently only he was the expertise.

"So after I shot the submarine down, I had to head back to the surface to do some other stuff."

Reeve took a small break to sip from his bottle.

"And when I returned into the water, I saw this funny looking thing swimming around, and decided to drive the submarine to it."

Vincent just listened in silence.

"Turns out it was an enemy….it was a super boss fight, that can steal from me about 4000 of HP."

"Hum, super boss fight?"

Vincent sweatdroped for what seemed like the hundredth time that night.

"My only chance would be to have unlimited Limit Breaks, but you can only have those after you sustain a certain amount of damage."

"Limit breaks?"

Reeve continued rambling on, making Vincent slump his shoulders in defeat.

"Huh, beer's out."

Reeve looked inside of his beer through the hole, and excused himself.

"I think you had enough, Reeve…."

Vincent spoke, but he received a very uncharacteristic grunt from the usual polite man, whom walked over to one of the tables to find more beers. Cid and Cloud had taken over one of the tables. They pushed all of the empty cans, bottles and food boxes to the floor to make room for their card game.

"Like this."

Reeve head Cid speak and looked over. The older man was teaching Cloud how to play a card game that seemed to be poker.

"Huh….I don't get it."

Cloud whined, staring at the card placed in front of him, making Cid shake his head.

"Pay attention, kid. This card beats this card."

Cid continued on as he showed card after card to the younger man. Reeve groaned after realizing that there was nothing else to drink and gave up, returning to his seat next to Vincent.

In his drunken state, Reeve couldn't help but notice how both blondes looked so connected in a way that would go beyond friendship or love. Something impossible to explain, but it was there, nonetheless. Maybe it was just the alcohol speaking.

"Heeeeey."

"Hm?"

Vincent lifted an eyebrow up at Reeve's sudden grinning face.

"I just had a crazy idea."

"And that is?"

Vincent inquired, eyebrow still raised.

"What if, those two…"

Reeve started, pointing behind him, towards the two blondes by the table.

"…are related to each other?"

Vincent stared at Reeve for a while, before looking at the two mentioned males.

"I see no resemblance…"

"Sometimes the children don't look anything like one of the parents, you know?"

Reeve explained, lifting one finger up like a teacher would do.

"You're drunk, Reeve."

Vincent pointed out the obvious, knowing that it wasn't that obvious to the brunette.

"Oh, I know what would settle it…."

Reeve leaned slightly over Vincent, placing his palm next to his chin to whisper. Vincent, on the other hand, was afraid to know what was Reeve's next brilliant idea.

"A blood test."

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

"Reeve…"

"No, hear me out, Vincent. A blood test would settle the question, wouldn't it?"

"It would, but…"

"Then it's settled!"

Reeve raised himself from his chair and dashed out of the living room.

"What is he…?"

Vincent barely had time to react and before long, Reeve was gone.

"Where's da'faiar?"

Vincent heard Barret mumble clumsily, almost falling into a deep slumber. Both girls were already gone into a deep sleep. The two blondes, however, were too immersed in their little card game to be affected by the exhaustion. Vincent got up from his seat and walked over to the table. He had to admit that he was intrigued by what caused Reeve to think that the blondes were related, besides the obvious fact that their hair and eye color were alike, but not the same.

"Did I win, or what?"

"No, no, no, yeh doin' it wrong. I'll show yeh one more time, kid, so pay attention."

Vincent leaned against the table casually, watching with amusement as Cid was teaching something without spreading curses all over the place. Still, the black haired man found the idea ridiculous. He had a faint idea of how old both males were, and it would make no sense, whatsoever for Cid to be Cloud's father.

"Huh, what's so funny, Vince?"

Vincent blinked, realizing that he had chuckled audibly at his own thoughts. He looked down at both blondes and shrugged coolly.

"Nothing, just thinking."

"About what?"

Cid mumbled, clearly close to falling into sleep sooner or later.

"Don't worry about it."

Vincent said and moved away from his spot, but his sharp hearing caught a soft yawn sound coming from Cloud and a loud thump. Looking behind, he saw that Cloud was practically rubbing one of his half-closed eyes, while Cid's head had given up on him and landed on the table, snoring out loudly.

"Cloud, go to sleep. Everyone's put out, already."

Vincent instructed, and Cloud agreed, making his way to take one of the blankets they had prepared for that specific time. After Vincent had placed a blanket over Cid's sleeping form, he took a survey at the living room. The usual empty area was gleaming with unexplained life, possibly from the energy radiating from the youths that occupied it.

But there was still the unsettling matter of a certain missing brunette that never returned. Vincent made his way out of the living room and pondered at where he should begin looking for Reeve. He had this dry feeling that the man went downstairs to the basement, so that's where he decided to start looking.

Unknown to Vincent, Reeve had emerged from upstairs, carrying needles in his hand. The excitement of what he was planning to do was sending so much adrenaline through his blood stream that it kept the alcohol from taking Reeve into a slumber.

Grinning upon finding everyone asleep, Reeve took the opportunity to take a few drops of blood from Cid and Cloud. After finishing the task, the brunette made his way to the basement, where he would run the DNA tests. Much to his surprise, he had found Vincent inside the laboratory.

"Reeve. Where were you?"

Reeve blinked at the black haired man, before grinning.

"I've got it!"

"Got….what…?"

Vincent asked cautiously, taking notice of something in Reeve's hands.

"Reeve…you.."

"I got the blood samples, Vincent!"

Vincent sighed tiredly.

"Reeve, just go to sleep. This is stupid."

"Oh, party pooper, it's just one little blood test, Vincent."

Vincent gave Reeve a hard glare.

"I will go to bed after this, I promise."

"You promise?"

"Yes. Now where is the tester?"

Vincent groaned mentally. He had no idea how much demanding Reeve could be when he was drunk.

"That way…"

Vincent pointed as he watched the brunette make his way to the small dusty machine. Reeve's knowledge of fine and delicate machinery were a given even in a drunk state. He wiped the machine clean in just two minutes and had it running the next. Sadly for Reeve, the blood test would only be complete after one hour, or so.

"You got what you wanted, Reeve."

Vincent started, walking over to the brunette, placing his clawed hand over the man's shoulder as a warning that his patient was wearing off. Being inside the lab made Vincent tense and aggressive.

"Do your promise."

"I will…let's go."

Reeve yawned, finally feeling the heavy weight of the need of slumber fall upon his body. Vincent guided Reeve back to the living room. Normally he would have his guests sleep in the beds, but since everyone had fallen asleep downstairs, there was no way that Vincent would carry all of them upstairs. And he would rather keep all of his friends within the same room, in case something happened. The mansion was still haunted, after all. Surprisingly, no monster appeared that night.

'The noise must have frightened the poor bastards.'

With that thought, Vincent took a spot in the living room, claimed a blanket for himself and closed his eyes.

TBC


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER 4**

By the time everyone awoke, the sun was already peeking over the horizon and the sunlight through the windows.

Vincent was aware of his surroundings long before any of his friends woke up, but he stood stoically in his place as usual, eyes closed and arms crossed.

Many groans, moans and whimpers were heard after everyone was up on their feet.

"Oh, my head…"

Yuffie groaned, pressing the tip of her fingers to massage her temples.

"Shit, my back! Fuuuuck!"

Cid cursed while he forcefully twisted his body around to warm some stiff muscles and crack some bone's joints.

"Keep it down, yo-ohhhh."

Barret moaned in pain, as he pressed his forehead against the cold metal of his gun-for-a-hand.

"I am…never drinking…again."

Tifa whined, sitting down on the couch to avoid tripping over something. The section behind the couch was a mess of beer bottles all over the floor, so everyone was avoiding walking that way.

"Oh, I had the craziest dream."

Reeve spoke, leaning against the wall, still curled around his blanket. Vincent just stood quiet, hoping that the brunette wouldn't remember what he did last night.

"Somehow, I feel so sore…"

Nanaki complained, feeling the side of his ribcage and stomach aching from having the women's feet over him all night long.

"Hn, looks like the only ones who aren't sufferin', are spikey-head and vampire there."

Barret grumbled grumpily.

"Don't speak, please."

Cloud's weak voice was heard from where he was sitting, also rubbing his own temples.

"FUCK!"

A sudden shout from Cid made everyone cringe at the pounding pain inside their brains.

"CID! Shup up!"

Everyone reattributed the favor by shouting back at Cid, but everyone, minus Vincent and Nanaki, just ended up flinching at the pain, yet again.

"Sorry, fellas….jus' was snapping some bones back into place. I slept in a bad position, last night."

Cid scratched the back of his head, taking a seat by one of the free chairs.

Vincent merely sighed, not bothering to open his eyes. This was going to be a slow and long morning.

"I really hope that all of you will help me clean up the mess."

"What mess?"

Yuffie said jokingly, looking around the living room.

"Don't worry, Vincent, we won't let you do all the work by yourself."

Cloud reassured before leaning himself against the couch.

"…but…maybe not now…"

"Yeah…I don't think I can do any cleaning right now, either."

Tifa leaned back on the couch, taking a deep breath to relax herself.

"Me three."

Barret joined the conversation.

"Me never."

And Yuffie broke the combo.

"Screw you nuggets, I don't do no cleanin'."

Cid's voice was heard from far, indicating that he had made his way out of the living room, before anyone could put a broom on his hands.

"I'll do what I can."

Nanaki offered like the good gentleman-warrior he was. Reeve on the other hand said nothing.

"And you, Reeve?"

Vincent raised an eyebrow at the brunette, who seemed to be spacing out. He hoped that Reeve wasn't thinking about that silly blood test again.

"Huh, what?"

"Are you helping with the cleaning, or not?"

Reeve blinked, looking over at the table's section.

"Oh, oh, yes, I am."

Vincent nodded and got up from his spot and picked up one of the many bags that were used to bring in the goodies to use them as trash bags. Like the black haired man suspected, it was a slow morning. One by one, his friends would get up and help with the cleaning, taking turns on holding the bags up or picking the trash from the floor. Eventually, the living room was in its original state, empty, complete with just the common furniture. Vincent nodded at the sight. He liked things in their rightful place.

"Yay, we did it!"

"What do you mean 'we', Yuffie? You barely did anything."

Tifa placed her hands on her hips, clearly annoyed at the younger woman.

"Teh-heh."

Yuffie stuck her tongue out in a childish way, while scratching her head.

"Hey, yo, no dessert for those who don' work."

Barret nagged, waving his metallic hand at the girl who argued back at the taller man.

"Huh, where is Reeve?"

Vincent heard Cloud wonder out loud to himself as he looked around the room. Indeed, the brunette was missing, which made Vincent frown.

"I'll go look."

The black haired man offered as he made his way to the upper floor to reach the secret entrance of the basement. Deep inside, Vincent was feeling a little tense as he walked deeper into the basement, into the belly of the monster that had caused all of the pain and suffering on the world and upon him.

"Reeve, are you there?"

Vincent called out after pushing the laboratory's door open, finding a dim light from deep within. There was no response, but Vincent knew that there was someone inside.

TBC


	5. Chapter 5

**CHAPTER 5**

"Reeve?"

The black haired man tried again, this time walking inside the spacious room, his eyes scanning every detail with precaution for any upcoming wild animal. After a few more steps, he had spotted the brunette's back from one of the divisions, just down the short hallway.

"Reeve…"

Vincent called out, while making his way towards the other man. He started to worry when Reeve didn't react for the third time his name had been called. The black haired man placed a hand over Reeve's shoulder, and the sudden touch seemed to snap the brunette from his thoughts.

"Vincent?"

Reeve turned around to face his pale friend, looking up at Vincent who had a clear frown on his features.

"Reeve, what is it?"

"Vincent, you won't believe it."

Reeve started, but his voice died down while he raised his hand to reveal a sheet of paper. Nervously, Vincent took that paper into his own hand and looked through the text, falling into an equal silence that matched Reeve's.

"I see…"

He spoke after a while, his eyes not leaving the paper.

"I know…it was just a silly joke. A terrible one, if I must say. I…I never thought that both DNA would match…"

Reeve's voice trembled in pure shock.

"Do you know what this means? That they are truly related….that there are many unresolved things between both Cloud and Cid to which they aren't even aware of."

"This could end their friendship, Reeve. Make our friendships, in general, become unstable."

"You…you're right! What if they don't settle things….What if Cloud and Cid end up not talking to each other? I should have never done this test!"

"I tried to stop you from doing this, Reeve…"

Vincent started, but he was cut off by the brunette.

"I'll run the test again, yes, this DNA result must have been a miscalculation."

Reeve spoke, his voice becoming more stable by the second.

"I don't think a percentage of 99.6% is a miscalculation, Reeve."

Vincent started, but his warning fell into deaf ears. Reeve had turned back to the machine and added more of the remaining blood he had extracted from the blonde men.

"Okay, in one hour, we will know for sure."

"Reeve…just forget about this…its best that we don't know."

The black haired man counseled the brunette.

"Forget it? But-"

"It's best that we don't know what?"

A well-known voice coming from behind literally drained all of the blood from the two males, whose faces had gotten as white as a ghost.

"C-cloud. What are you doing here?"

Reeve gasped out, looking over from Vincent's tall figure, who swiftly placed the paper on the table before turning as well.

"I could ask the same about you two."

The younger man raised a brow at his two friends while placing both hands on each side of his waist. He couldn't help but notice some sort of machine working smoothly from behind them.

"This is a waste of time."

Vincent spoke with annoyance. He hated overly dramatic scenes more than anything. He had enough of those when he was in his mid-thirties, so he merely made his way past Cloud and out of the lab, leaving the blonde with the brunette.

"I guess I won't get anything out of Vincent. What am I missing, Reeve?"

Cloud inquired after turning his attention to Reeve, watching the other male closely. His golden brow raised once again when Reeve stuttered some words out.

"Ah, well, you see…"

"Yeah?"

Cloud waited patiently, never moving away from his spot.

What could Reeve do? He couldn't walk away just like Vincent, because not only that would be unusual, but would cause suspicion from the blonde boy. Reeve did what he knew best. The brunette recomposed himself, and spoke.

"Cloud, I'm not going to lie to you. I came down here to see the state of these machines, to see if I could make use of the good spare parts."

Reeve explained, keeping himself as natural as possible. 'I'm really sorry for lying, Cloud. I can't let you see this test result'. He let out a dry chuckle.

"But, you see, Vincent followed me here, telling me to just leave this place alone."

"I kind of understand what Vincent meant, Reeve."

Cloud started, seemingly believing all of Reeve's words, or so he hoped.

"This is where Sephiroth was made and where he lost his mind. This is where I became what I am today. This is where…Zack…and I….lost everything."

Reeve swallowed down a bit, watching his friend's eyes become slightly dark with the memories flowing to the surface.

"You're right, I'm leaving here."

Reeve walked closer to the blonde youth, giving him a sympathetic smile.

"And by the looks of it, you should too, Cloud."

Cloud stared at Reeve for a moment before nodding and turning around towards the exit, where both men came to find Vincent leaning against the wall by the stairs, apparently waiting for them to leave the basement.

By the time all three of them arrived at the living room, the remaining members were gathered in a circle. They were ready to bid their farewells to each other and return to their daily lives.

"I wish I could stay a bit longer, but that bar won't run by itself."

Tifa stated, giving everyone a smile.

"And I gotta find more oil to keep us running."

Barret stated, crossing his arms in a heroic manner.

"Sadly, I have to return as well. As you all know, I'm a very busy man."

Reeve joined the conversation.

"And I got materia to steal!"

Yuffie's remark made some of her friends to chuckle lightly.

"Hm, I got some stuff to do, mehself."

Cid closed his eyes while blowing off the smoke from his lungs, not noticing the quick stare that Reeve gave him.

"I'm heading back to Cosmo Canyon, naturally."

Nanaki spoke.

"How about you, Cloud?"

Tifa asked, looking over at the blonde who merely shrugged.

"I have to head south and see what Reno wants from me."

"Yeh better take care. Damned Turks always got somethin' up their sleeves."

Cid warned, taking another deep breath from his cigarette. Cloud nodded at the other man.

"No need to worry about me."

"Yo better come home sometime soon, spiky. Marlene misses yo."

Barret spoke in a warning tone, but everyone knew he meant it in the good way.

"I will."

Cloud nodded and then turned to Vincent.

"How about you? Any plans?"

The black haired man merely shrugged, unwilling to share the fact that he really didn't have anything to do, besides to think about the past.

"You should get a hobby, Vin-chan."

Yuffie started out, grinning at her pale tall friend. Seeing that she was ignored, she placed both her hands behind her head and turned around.

"Fine, give me the silent treatment. I'm leaviiiing."

The black haired girl hummed as she made her way outside of the mansion, being followed shortly after by everyone.

"Hey, old geezer, will you give me a ride back to Wutai?"

Yuffie asked out, looking as innocent as ever, but everyone knew best.

"Huh? Forget it, kid. Not in the mood."

Cid grumbled, his cigarette bobbing on his lips as he spoke.

"How stingy you are! Fine!"

Yuffie stomped her foot on the floor annoyed and turned to Tifa.

"Hey, take me with you, Tifa. I'll find a way to Wutai later."

The brunette scratched her head while sighing.

"Alright, you can come with me, Yuffie."

"Yay!"

TBC


	6. Chapter 6

**CHAPTER 6**

Everyone walked together out of Nibelheim, where most of the vehicles were parked around. There was a giant airship just a little far by. Cid liked to land his ship in a wide space where nothing would scratch it. One could swear he loved that ship more than his own life. Or his cigarettes.

Closer to the town's entrance was Cloud's bike, the Fenrir. Just next to it was a large grey van with the WRO symbol marked on it. And lastly, to the side was a truck that belonged to Barret and Tifa.

"I will be seeing you around."

Nanaki was the first to bid his farewells before speeding off into the horizon, with everyone waving at him.

"Remember, if you need help, of any kind, just contact me."

Reeve waved at everyone before entering his grey van and driving away with it. Cid on the other hand just yelled out a 'so long!' while making his way towards his far-away-airship.

Yuffie had jumped onto the truck along with Barret, while Tifa turned to face Cloud.

"Will you be alright, Cloud?"

Cloud nodded reassuringly.

"Of course."

Tifa smiled and joined the small group inside the truck that Barret had started.

Cloud stood with Vincent, watching all of his friends make their ways home. The blonde youth pondered on asking the stoic male about what was really happening downstairs in the basement, but he knew best. Vincent only speaks when he see fit.

"Well, Vincent. I will see you later."

Both males nodded at each other before Cloud hopped onto his bike and started the engine. Vincent stood in his place, watching the blonde make his way to wherever he had to go. After a short while, Vincent got bored of staring and decided to pay a visit to a specific crystal cave.

Little did the black haired man know that Cloud had been riding slightly to the side so that he could see if the coast was clear on Nibelheim. When he saw the red cape of Vincent moving away from the town, Cloud turned the bike sharply and stopped for a while. Somehow he couldn't put away the unsettling curiosity he was feeling when he saw both Reeve and Vincent trying to hide something from him. He was tired of the secrets that surrounded him, and he was sure it had something to do with him. Maybe an old report of the experiments done on him? Whatever horrible truth was inside that laboratory, Cloud was willing to learn about it.

When Vincent was far enough, Cloud twisted the handle roughly, sending the bike upwards on a rising speed. It was not long until Cloud had reached Nibelhiem. He brought the bike along with him this time, and placed it to rest next to the gates of the mansion.

Looking at the huge empty building, suddenly it felt very intimidating.

'It's hard to imagine that we were all having fun here last night.'

With that, Cloud decided to bring along one of his blades along, and made his way inside the mansion. He knew his way around this place, but kept his guard up nonetheless.

When Cloud reached the laboratory, he quickly headed over to the place where Reeve and Vincent stood, to find the machine that was running moments ago. Whatever it was doing, the machine had finished its task, and a piece of paper was hanging loosely on a slot, waiting to be taken. Cloud swallowed dryly as he took the sheet and looked at it.

He read it a second time.

Then a third time.

And when that wasn't enough, he looked around the place, as if searching for some sort of reassurance. Cloud let out a rasped breath, possibly out of shock.

The paper had his name, Cloud Strife, and his friend, Cid Highwind, on it. It showed a graphic of an analysis on both their blood, and on the bottom was one simple word 'MATCH' stamped in bold letters. Just under it was detailed information that pointed out how the DNA matching result was of 99.6%.

Cloud looked over at the table to spot that one particular sheet that he saw Vincent cautiously place when he found them earlier. Much to his dismay, it was another DNA test, prior to the one he just read.

"How can this….be…possible?"

Cloud spoke out to himself, confused. He was holding on his hand two test results that clearly indicated him as being Cid's biological son. The whole idea made Cloud's head swirl in both confusion and frustration. His mind tried to quickly call out the faded memories of his childhood.

He barely remembered his childhood, because of all the horrible experiments done on him. He remembered his mother, he could remember her face. It wasn't hard to, because he knew that he had her facial features. But his father, he barely could remember him. And his mother never spoke of him, either, so Cloud wasn't successful in remembering the man that was absent from most of his childhood.

But he had to remember. He just had to.

Cloud turned around and ran out of the mansion as fast as he could. He needed to breathe and calm down first. He didn't realize that he still had the papers in his fists when he dashed to the exterior. Nor did he notice a certain blonde walking towards him, because he was too busy supporting himself on his shaking knees while catching his breath.

"Yeh alright, kido?"

TBC


	7. Chapter 7

**CHAPTER 7**

Cloud gasped and turned to the side to spot the very familiar rough face of Cid, who stood there with half his hands inside his pockets and a tilted eyebrow.

"Woah, it's only me, Cloud."

Cid's voice was filled with concern as he reassured the younger blonde, noticing the way his friend was shaken.

"What happened?"

"Cid…"

Cloud started, but he couldn't continue, nor was he sure of how he should.

"Hm?"

Cid hummed out a little impatient, leaning forward a bit. Cloud tried his best to keep his composure, but he failed miserably. The presence of the older man was making him nervous. Cloud wanted to question Cid, but his mind was swirling with so many questions, and he didn't consider Cid to be the best of all persons to share his problems with.

"Hey, speak up! Did some crazy shit happen?"

Cid waved his hand as he spoke.

"What are you doing here? I thought you had left already."

Cloud started, trying to change the subject to other matters.

"Huh? Oh, on my way, I realized that I forgot me goggles. Those are my favorites."

The older man tapped the side of his forehead as he spoke. And indeed his goggles were missing. Cloud just didn't notice it because of the stress he is dealing with right now.

"But that's not the point, ain't it, Cloud?"

Cid frowned at the boy, crossing his arms around his chest in a demanding manner. Cloud felt a small drop of sweat roll down his chin. He wasn't ready to speak about his newfound discovery right now. He had to get out.

And the next events happened in just a matter of seconds.

"H-"

Cloud had jumped over to the bike he left by the mansion's gate and twisted the engine on.

"-u-"

With a loud roar from the engine, Cloud dashed past Cid.

"-h?"

The older man had jumped out of the way, even though it wasn't necessary, because Cloud didn't ride towards him, but instincts speak louder than the mind.

"What the fuck?! Cloud?!"

The younger blonde heard several curses, but never stopped, speeding away from Nibelheim. Cid, on the other hand, stared in pure disbelief at Cloud's attitude, unsure of how to react, except with:

"Fucking shit! What's wrong with yer fucking head?"

Cid threw his fists in the air, bouncing around from his spot.

"CLOUD!"

It was useless; the blonde youth couldn't hear him anymore. A soft breeze waved itself around Cid, dragging those faithful papers along and he recognized those to be in Cloud's hands before he ran away. The older man stepped on one of the running papers and picked it up quickly.

After several minutes of silence, one single word was ushered.

"Fuck…."

Cid was practically running like the wind, wheezing out as he tried to keep his pace in order to reach his airship. When inside The Shera, he slammed a couple of buttons on his way to shut the doors behind him, before taking his position on the wheel. Pressing another couple of buttons the smooth engines of the ship filled out the silence inside as it took off from the ground.

Cid flipped another couple of buttons, switching the normal cruising mode of his ship into battle mode, where the scanning and heat wave's screen became online. The older man twisted the airship around, positioning it to the direction he thought Cloud had run to, and allowed the scanners to search for life forms.

After a couple of dismissed monsters and animals from the scanners, he finally found human existence on the screen, and quickly set the airship to fly at top speed to the designed direction.

_FLASHBACK_

A small boy ran excitedly towards the large, white building. A small group of young boys watched the said running boy, and started whistling and shouting.

"Heeey, look, it's Ciiiid-neeeey."

"He's gonna see his crush again!"

"When will you get married?"

The golden head ignored the taunting and continued on inside the school building. It was well known that he had a crush on someone inside the school of Midgar. He was pretty obvious, and couldn't hide his emotions very well. So it was only natural that most people knew about his secret. And he had grown tired of hiding it, preferring to accept the facts instead.

The sixteen year old boy marched excitedly to the classroom. Science class was his favorite subject, especially the part where they were currently at: universe.

Also it was where he would find his crush. The blonde boy was always the first one to arrive at the science class, even though it was break time. As for the other subjects, he was the worst student, and barely gave any respect to the teachers. Some would call him the devil child, sometimes. Expect when it was time for Science.

He pushed the door open while knocking on it at the same time, shouting excitedly.

"Miss Markham!"

"Oh, Cidney."

A female adult voice filled the room and the boy's ears as he watched his teacher turn around, her golden beautiful hair waving along with her movements. The boy couldn't help but blush.

"Miss Markham, I told you. Call me Cid."

"Oh, right, right. Sorry, Cid."

"It's a'right!"

The boy and the woman laughed together.

_END OF FLASHBACK_

TBC


	8. Chapter 8

**CHAPTER 8**

"Tche-….Makin' me remember stuff, I'd rather forget."

Cid mumbled angrily under his breath, the memories of his past flowing visibly through his mind. He kept focus on his chase on the boy. Those DNA results frightened him. Cid had done something terrible during his childhood and he was afraid that the consequences were right under his nose all that time, ever since he met the blonde boy. And if the boy was his consequence, then he felt stupid for not knowing it sooner.

He had to be sure, first. He had to talk with Cloud about it, to sort things out.

Sadly for Cid, Cloud seemed to have sensed the chase and swiftly took a sharp turn into the nearest forest, hiding within and preventing the older man from catching the boy.

"Yeh little shit head…"

Cid cursed with a frown, unwilling to ram his airship into the forest, nor wishing to use fire to clean the way. He could hurt Cloud if he used fire power.

_FLASHBACK_

"Hey, fucker! Come drink with us!"

Someone shouted out to the blonde boy, who immediately recognized the voice and walked towards the small group of slightly older boys.

"Hey, shitheads!"

Cid high-fived one of the boys, as he walked in closer to the trio of punks. The older one was a young brunette of eighteen years old, but he had already marked his left chin and neck with a tattoo of a flaming skull and pierced his ear.

"What's up, homie?"

Another one spoke, his shaved head gleaming against the sunset's light. He was just one year younger than the leader. He was the one that handed the blonde a beer bottle, and Cid took it willingly, snapping the cap off on the edge of a building.

"Yeh know, crappy school an' shit."

"Why don't'cha quit?"

The third and last member of the gang spoke, hanging lazily on his bicycle, his black half-long hair hanging around his face.

"Yeh know I can't do that…"

Cid spoke as he took a sip of the beer and leaned against the wall with the three boys. The older one handed the blonde a used cigarette, before speaking.

"I heard about it."

The leader grinned to himself.

"You're in love with one of your teachers, am I right?"

"Yeah, so?"

Cid spoke casually, taking in the offered fire from the lazy boy to light his cigarette.

The leader continued to grin.

"Well, why don't yah please your lady? If you like her so much, just show her some lovin' stuff."

Cid looked up at the boy in confusion, not following the direction of thoughts.

"Huh?"

"You wanna make her happy, don't'cha?"

The leader leaned on the blonde dangerously close, locking chocolate brown eyes with azure blue ones.

"I, I do."

Cid gulped nervously. He never liked when the leader would act in such a creepy way. It meant trouble.

"Then…"

The leader started, getting off of the blonde's form, lifting his arms up.

"Fuck with her! Ladies love the sex!"

Cid blinked, not one, but twice at the comment, very unsure of what the leader bluntly suggested. They used to talk about sex and pleasing women or pleasing themselves, but not once did any of them spoke of actually doing it.

"Don't sweat, Cidy, I'll help you set up a nice surprise for the lady you like! She will be so happy!"

The leader chirped happily with a big smile, which always made Cid's fear go away, somehow.

"If you say so!"

"Hell yeah!"

_END OF FLASHBACK_

Cid's eyes stared unblinkingly at the scanner's screen, searching for movement, but the lack of it clearly indicated that Cloud either stopped the bike, or hid himself inside a cave somewhere in that forest.

"Smartass, yeh can't run from me."

Cid growled under his breath and pressed a couple of other buttons to set his airship into automatic mode. He would get down by rope. If he moved his ship down to the ground, he was sure that Cloud would pick up the sounds and make his move. So the only chance was for Cid to pretend to still be inside the ship. He took a hold of his favorite lance and threw a long rope down before throwing himself out.

_FLASHBACK_

"What? But, why?!"

The blonde shouted in frustration, but deep down he knew the answer to that.

"I'm terribly sorry, Cidney."

The superintendent of the school spoke with sympathy, but he knew he couldn't reach the youth.

"Don't call me that, damn it!"

The older man sighed, and continued.

"Face the fact, child. Miss Selene Markham is moving away. She already handed her resignation papers."

"But….she can't do that….who…will teach science?"

Cid was practically sobbing at the moment, his uncontrolled rage and sadness all mixed into a blur of tears.

"Don't worry, we have found a new teacher to replace Miss Selene."

The superintended reassured, receiving just a silent nod from the sobbing blonde.

_'__She's moving away because of me'_

Cid's thoughts whirled in his mind, his angry mind searching for someone to put the blame on. The only person he could think of right now was the one who put that 'brilliant idea' into his head, the gang's leader.

"You should be happy, Cidne…erm, Cid. She is going to get married with her boyfriend, Mr. Strife. And they are going to be living happily ever after!"

The older man raised his arms up in a dramatic pose, hoping that the young boy would buy into that fairytale. Cid quickly raised his head to stare at the older man on the other side of the table, something inside of him dying slowly. The superintended cleared his throat. He had hoped that the news would make the boy feel better, but apparently it didn't.

"I cannot do anything else for you, Cid. You should return to your classes, now."

The man dismissed the boy, who stood up and left the office. Little did the man know that Cid had other plans. He made his way out of the school undetected, and ran towards his teacher's home. He had to apologize to her, although he wasn't sure why Selene would be upset about what happened only after two weeks later.

The setup that his group of 'friends' made for him was a normal romantic dinner.

To everyone around, it looked like a normal (extremely young) mother and child dinner out, but to Cid it was like a dream come true. He remembers that Selene looked rather upset when she came to meet with him, but she soon warmed up after seeing all of the efforts 'made' by the blonde boy.

He remembers that Selene said something unsettling like _'You really are sweet…I just wished that he was this gentle with me…'_. Cid didn't quite understand it, but as he grew older, it began to made sense. She had someone else, someone that clearly upset her all the time, someone that made her eyes look sad every time she came to the school.

After she spoke those words, she fell into tears, and the boy did all he could to calm her down. When nothing seemed to work, in frustration, Cid tried the 'sex'. It shocked Selene at first, but in her broken state of mind, she accepted it willingly.

After that, she instructed the boy to never speak of it to anyone, not even with her. He agreed to her wish, naturally.

Cid thought that she was okay after that. The following days proceeded as normal. He would come to school happy as a bug during Science class, listen enthusiastically to his love speak about science related subjects, and he would join his gang afterwards. But after two days he had to stop visiting his gang, because they wanted to hear about Cid's "unique experience". And his promise to keep the secret the way it was supposed to be was more important to him.

And now, all of the sudden, he gets news that Selene Markham is about to become Selene Strife, and worst of all, she is going away to god-knows-where.

"Miss Markham! Miss Markham!"

Cid rapped on the door, impatiently waiting for it to open. The door opened after a short while, which made the blonde boy smile in anticipation at seeing his love's face, but his smile quickly dropped dead after spotting a blonde tall man looking down at him.

"What you want, kid?"

The man spoke in an annoyed tone as he stepped out of the house a bit. During the movement, Cid could see his teacher from inside, head looking down and…sad?

"I want to speak with Miss Selene!"

Cid spoke demandingly, causing the tall man in front of him to raise a brow, before turning his head around.

"Hey, Sele, some kid wants to speak with you."

"Tell him, that we're running late to catch the boat and that I can't."

The man grunted and turned around to look back at the boy.

"I know you heard her. Now scram, kid."

"But…"

Cid barely had the time to speak as the door was shut on his face. He was confused beyond hope. Why was Selene going away and why didn't she want to see him?

_'__So she really is angry with me…I shouldn't have listened to that idiot….'_

Cid stared at the door for a while, whatever hope he had in his heart vanished.

Gone.

He turned around, his head hanging down.

Confusion.

Anger.

Frustration.

There were too many emotions whirling inside of his heart, so many that the boy didn't know how to react.

So he ran until his legs gave up on him, until his muscles burned, until his breath was heavy, until he collapsed from exhaustion.

After that, he lived the rest of his childhood confused. He cut all connections with his gang, he stopped misbehaving in school, except when picked on. His only love and joy was science, especially the universe. Just the thought of wandering into vast blackness intrigued his little mind.

That was when Cid Highwind made a promise to himself. One that he would let no one take away his one true dream: to reach and touch space.

_END OF FLASHBACK_

TBC


	9. Chapter 9

**CHAPTER 9**

Cid carefully made his way into the forest, his senses in a high alert state just in case he was attacked by some hungry animal.

After running cautiously for a while, the man finally spotted Cloud's bike parked near one of the many trees. He walked over it just to find that there was nobody around to be seen. Frowning, he pondered on where Cloud could have run off to.

"Cloud?"

Cid called out, but silence was his only response.

"Cloud! I don' know why yer running away like the devil's chasing ya!"

Cid continued talking, hoping to get an answer.

"I need to speak with yeh, so come on out!"

Still no response. Feeling his eye switch with anger, Cid walked closer to Cloud's bike and grabbed onto it.

"That's it! I'm taking your bike if yeh don' show that skinny ass of yours right now!"

And to make his point, Cid started out the bike's engine while placing himself on top of it, ready to return to his airship.

"Wait…"

Cid stopped in his actions and turned his head over to the origin of the voice, immediately spotting a golden head moving from behind a tree.

"About time, yeh damn brat."

The older man sighed in frustration as he watched Cloud walk over to him very slowly, almost as if he was afraid of something.

"Com'ere, Cloud. We going to my ship and talk things out."

"You…know?"

Cloud spoke slowly, staring at the blonde man, who gave him an affirmative nod.

"I know…about that DNA test."

Cid made his point by retrieving the papers from his pocket, watching Cloud's skin color turn pale.

"Get on."

Cid merely said, and for some reason the blonde youth obeyed, walking over to his bike and taking a seat from behind. It felt unusual that for once he wasn't the one riding his own bike. The older man waited for Cloud to sit properly on the vehicle before taking them both to the airship.

"Cid, look, I-"

The younger blonde started, but he was cut off by the deeper voice of the other man.

"I got sum' things to ask you about, Cloud. But quite frankly, I have no shitty idea how to make those questions…"

Cid admitted bluntly.

"Me neither."

Cloud closed his eyes in defeat, allowing the flowing wind to sooth his skin. When they made it out of the forest, Cloud looked up to spot the Shera still floating in midair, awaiting its pilot's return.

"Yeh go up first, Cloud."

Cid motioned to the hanging rope that he had used to get off of the airship.

"Shouldn't you go first?"

Cid grunted at that.

"Hell no! I'm not riskin' havin' you run away again, spiky bastard!"

Cloud winced at the angry tone, feeling guilty at his immature actions, and complied with the older blonde's order, making his way up on the rope. Cid followed shortly after.

"Once I'm in, I'll lower the ship so I can take yer bike inside, okay?"

"Okay."

Cloud spoke softly as he hopped on board with Cid following in as well.

The next minutes were set in silence. Cloud had claimed one of the free chairs in the cockpit, near the control boards while he waited for the older man to finish his tasks. He was thankful though, because that had given him some time to ponder on the situation.

But quite frankly, he had no idea how.

TBC


	10. Chapter 10

**CHAPTER 10**

"So…"

Cid began as he returned back to the pilot area, catching the younger man's attention.

"Yer mother…She was Selene, right?"

Cloud's sad face and slow nod confirmed all of Cid's fears. It all became clear as to why she had left Cid on that fateful day. He got his teacher pregnant. Cloud interrupted the pilot's thoughts with his first question.

"How did you meet my mother? And why did you left her?"

Cid could hear anger in Cloud's voice and sat down in front of the young man.

"Listen up, and listen good. I'ma 'xplain what happened to yah, alright?"

Cloud nodded, swallowing nervously.

"An' before you say anythin', I want it to be clear that I did many stupid things in my teen ages. And I do regret some o'them."

Cloud nodded, but said nothing. Cid sighed, getting himself ready to tell a part of his life that he never told anyone. Not even to Shera, his wife.

"I met Selene Markham in the school I was in."

He began, watching the younger blonde listen intensely.

"She was in the science teaching department, which was my favorite subject an' I sort of had a crush on'er."

Cid scratched his head in embarrassment at his confession, but soon regained his composure upon seeing Cloud's discomfort, and became unsure on how to continue with the story. He had to omit certain facts, because that would be too graphical and shocking for the blonde man. And he suffered enough already.

"Selene had a boyfriend, though, sum' jackass whose name I can't even remember, 'xcept fer his last name, Strife."

He continued, not allowing Cloud time to react or jump into conclusions until he heard the entire story.

"She was always sad, an' it was clear that it was 'cuz of him."

The older man brought a hand to rub on his shoulder, as if in search of comfort from the painful memories.

"An' I didn't do any better. I was a stupid punk kid who got in her way, an' did somethin' really stupid."

Cloud watched the man tense; unsure of how to react to the information he was receiving.

"After sum' weeks, Selene filed a reassignment to be moved sum'where, 'cuz she was marryin' her boyfriend, Strife.

Cid leaned on his seat heavily, causing the chair to tilt slightly as he looked at the ceiling.

"That was the last time I saw her. I haven't seen or heard from Selene since I was sixteen or sumethin'."

Both men stood in silence for a long time, lost in their own thoughts, lost in what to say next.

Cid was the first to break the silence.

"But this."

Cloud's eyes watched the older man's hand move from his pocket, bringing upwards the piece of paper that changed their whole lives.

"This scrawny piece o'paper 'xplains why Selene left Midgar."

Cloud blinked, learning this bit of information about his mother. Not once had she mentioned Midgar. It wasn't like she ever shared her past with Cloud in any way possible.

He became upset upon realizing that it wasn't the mako or Jenova infusions affecting the memories of his past and of his mother. He simply didn't know the woman at all, because she never let him.

Cid watched the younger man's face darken with sadness. He wish he could make it better for the youth, but wasn't sure how. He also knew that it wasn't wise to continue talking about such a delicate matter, but there was no way out of it, now.

"I don't know what happened after she left. I didn't even know that she was in Nibelheim all this time."

He admitted, watching the younger man closely.

"I'm sorry, Cloud."

He knew that wouldn't solve things, but he wanted Cloud to know that he still cared for him, that he worried.

"But, yanno. I'm sort of glad that yer not related to that guy. He was really a jerk. I mean, judging from what happened, he left Selene and ye as well."

The older blonde spoke sincerely, watching the youth's reaction closely. Cloud looked like he wanted to scream, but choose to just brood over it.

"Would you leave us too?"

The broken voice of Cloud made Cid wince. He pondered on the question. He didn't think he would leave Selene. He was too in love with her to do such a cruel thing.

"Naw. I don' think I would leave ye two."

He saw Cloud nod his head, but he could tell from the blonde's face that he wasn't convinced. Also, he looked like he was on the verge of tears.

"Listen, Cloud. I'm yer father an' I wanna make things right."

"How?"

Cloud lifted his head to look directly at the captain's equal blue eyes. It was a little too late to fix anything in his life. Many things had happened. He lost many things, many people that he cared for. He felt the worst when he remembered those that he could not save.

Cid just crossed his arm for about a second, tilting his head to the side.

"By givin' ye what you missed all this time. Someone to look out fer ye."

Cid explained, giving a soft smile to the confused younger blonde.

"And ye need it now more than ever."

He pointed out, looking at the long lost look on Cloud's unsure face.

"I don't need help."

Cloud spoke and lifted himself off of his seat, his eyes closed in determination. He would-

His thoughts were cut off when a pair of strong muscled arms wrapped around him and secured him in his place.

"Cid-"

"Yer not walkin' away from this, Cloud."

Cid spoke firmly, holding the younger man into his embrace. He could feel the younger blonde sigh heavily with a shaky voice. Without looking, the captain could tell that the younger man had reached his limit and was pouring himself in tears on his chest.

The older man just held his newfound offspring in his arms, murmuring reassuring words every now and then.

He would take care of Cloud. In Selene's memory and for his own old feelings he had for her.

Also, for the warm feeling he felt on the idea of having a son. He was going to have to work on the younger man's style, teach him mechanics and many other things that he was an expert on.

Cid actually felt excited in sharing his own world with the younger blonde. He also felt nervous, but he was sure it would work out just fine.

If his parents managed him, then he will somehow manage Cloud.

The only problem was to explain to Shera how he happens to have a son of Cloud's age.

**THE END**

A/N: I'm going to stop here, because I ran out of ideas for this. When I get more ideas, I will release a sequel.


End file.
